50 of the Best LGBTQ Movies to Stream for Pride[html]
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There are as many paths to exploring queer history as there are people who have lived it, and many queer legends who have been unjustly forgotten. Pride is a time to celebrate, honor, and remember all of it, whether you’re trans, bi, ace, poly, pan, intersex, nonbinary, or anywhere else on the gender and sexual identity and expression spectrum—or just proud to support your queer friends.
These movies all reflect elements of modern queer (LBGTQIA+) history—sometimes dramatized, sometimes documentary, and sometimes because the film itself made history. They reflect decades of love, sex, activism, and artistry. Some call for tolerance, while others throw a middle finger (or, better still, a brick) in response to narrow-minded bigotry.
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Jane Shoenbrun wrote I Saw the TV Glow, their trippy, psychological horror drama, in the midst of their own transition, using the film to explore the feelings that the process stirred: exhilaration, anticipation, and visceral horror at the choices laid before them. What does it mean to sacrifice stability and safety in favor of authenticity? While other trans coming-out narratives focus on the external threats or emphasize the positive aspects, Shoenbrun isn't afraid to acknowledge and confront the inherent terror in this story of two teen friends who bond over a TV show that seems to gradually be drawing them into itself, and which increasingly feels more real than real life. Queer cinema of the past often dealt with themes in highly metaphorical ways, because speaking openly was far more dangerous. Shoenbrun approaches transitioning through allegory, and without fear. Stream I Saw the TV Glow on Prime Video.
Tangerine (2015)
Modern tech has opened up opportunities for filmmakers that they could only dream of back in the day. Imagine if queer directors of earlier generations had been able to shoot a movie on their phones with professional-looking results? The stories that could have been told? Director Sean Baker and company make a virtue of the intimacy and immediacy of that shooting on a couple of iPhones brings, and the results don’t feel shoddy nor cheap. It’s a girlfriend/buddy/revenge comedy about Sin-Dee Rella and Alexandra, two trans sex workers on the hunt for the man who did Sin-Dee wrong. It’s a ton of fun. Stream Tangerine on Disney+ and Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
The Queen (1968)
Long out of circulation but recently restored by Kino Lorber, documentary The Queen follows the contestants of a New York City drag pageant overseen by queen, activist, and trans icon Flawless Sabrina. Crystal LaBeija memorably steals the show at its finale by calling out the racist undercurrents of a largely segregated community, a rallying cry that would lead to the growth of the Ball culture in subsequent decades. It's a mostly loose, joyful portrait of a distinct time in queer history, and includes appearances by luminaries of the era: Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, and designer Dorian Corey. Stream The Queen on Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video.
BPM (Beats per Minute) (2017)
Set amidst the AIDS crisis in the early 1990s, BPM focuses, to some extent, on HIV-positive ACT UP activist Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and his developing relationship with newcomer Nathan (Arnaud Valois)—though the film is very much an ensemble piece in the aggregate, a fact that ties into its meaning and messaging. Shifting focus allows the movie to explore, dramatically and rather fearlessly, the changing nature of ACT UP's actions and activism. The messy internal battles over strategy, and questions as to how-far-is-too-far are part and parcel of every movement, and BPM beautifully dramatizes and personalizes those (still timely) struggles. Writer-director Robin Campillo and co-writer Philippe Mangeot brought their own ACT UP experiences to the film. Stream BPM (Beats per Minute) on Prime Video.
A Fantastic Woman (2017)
Trans lead Daniela Vega gives a brilliant, inspiring, gut-wrenching performance as Marina Vidal, a waitress and club singer in Santiago, Chile. When her boyfriend Orlando dies unexpectedly, she's subjected to a number of indignities—she's deadnamed and harassed by the police, who assume she must be a sex worker, and his family is after her to surrender all of Orlando's possessions and stay the hell away. Through all of it, Marina maintains a backbone of steel that doesn't detract from her believable struggle, but keeps the story from becoming a tragedy. In 2017, this Oscar-winner seemed like a story of a strong woman in a particularly intolerant country—but that was just before a global tide of transphobia swept away many of the advances made in even countries that once seemed more progressive. Rent A Fantastic Woman from Prime Video.
Nimona (2023)
Based on the graphic novel by ND Stevenson, Nimona traveled a rocky road to the screen, surviving delays, company shutdowns, the pandemic, and pressure from Disney to tone down its queer themes. Luckily, none of that drama is evident in the finished product, eventually brought to streaming by Netflix. It's a heartfelt, joyful, and funny fantasy set in a futuristic world full of medieval trappings. Ballister Boldheart, alongside his boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin, is about to be knighted by the queen, the first commoner ever to receive the honor. It's all good, until he’s framed for the queen’s murder and forced to flee, becoming the criminal that the snobs already took him for. Luckily (or not), he’s joined by Nimona, a teenager outcast shunned for her shapeshifting powers (she's primarily a she, but her powers mean her gender fluidity is baked in). The two work together to clear Ballister’s name, even as Nimona teaches Ballister what it measn to live authentically. Stream Nimona on Netflix.
Salomé (1923)
In the roaring ‘20s, the rules governing depicting queerness in film were a bit looser than they would be later on. Germany produced a handful of queer-positive films, even as several American movies played fast and loose with gender and sexual roles. Case in point: Salome, a biblical epic produced by, and starring, queer provocateur Alla Nazimova.
Nazimova (usually referred to as just “Nazimova") was one of Hollywood’s early power players, and an accomplished artist with a take on Oscar Wilde’s play that included female characters played by men in drag, overt sexuality, and silver lamé loincloths. It’s all wonderfully campy and stylized, and it didn’t make a penny, but it’s a reminder that there were queer folx making movies that your great-grandparents may have enjoyed.
With the rise of the Hays Production Code in America, and the Nazi party in Germany, it would be decades before movies could again do much more than hint about unsanctioned relationships. Rent Salomé from Prime Video.
Pillion (2025)
Is Pillion a romantic tragedy? A rom-com? Does it make a joke of sub-dom relationships, or treat them with the appropriate gravity? A lot of discourse about this one, but if you strip all of that away, this debut from director Harry Lighton is so breezy and elegantly constructed that it's hard not to fall in love. Harry Melling is Colin, a wee little fellow who runs up against Alexander Skarsgård's 6’4 Ray, who becomes his dom almost before he knows it, reveling in the discovery of a new kink even as he questions whether it's a life that's right for him. With a wry sense of humor that keeps it from turning into the more conventional psychodrama it might have been, Pillion reminds us that the "queer people are just like us!"-style of storytelling can be constricting, and it's OK to explore relationships that might make audiences a little uncomfortable. Stream Pillion on HBO Max.
